AfterDawn: Tech news

Store closing sales begin at 154 Circuit City locations

Written by Rich Fiscus @ 06 Nov 2008 9:29 User comments (38)

Store closing sales begin at 154 Circuit City locations If the state of the economy isn't keeping you from making consumer electronics purchases you may want to find out if there's a Circuit City closing nearby. On Wednesday the company announced store closing sales at 154 locations.
“Merchandise will be marked down to sell fast. Everything must go,” said Stephen Miller, Principal and Managing Director, Gordon Brothers Group. “The timing couldn’t be better for consumers. We don’t expect this sale to last very long.”

Michael Keefe, President and CEO, Hilco Merchant Resources, said, “This sale comes at a perfect time for everyone to enjoy large savings on many of their holiday gift purchases. Consumers who arrive at the start of the sale will certainly have the best selection of products from which to choose and will find great values on everything in the store.” Both Gordon Brothers and Hilco were brought in to help oversee the store closings.



All sales at the 154 stores being closed are final on items purchased during the store closing event, but normal refund policies will apply to merchandise purchased prior to the sale commencement date. Circuit City gift cards purchased prior to the sale commencement date will be honored, but no gift cards will be sold at the 154 closing stores. Cash and all major credit cards will be accepted but not checks.

You can find a complete listing of the stores being closed at the Hilco Merchant Resources website.

Although many businesses have been hit hard by the economy, Circuit City was already on shaky ground and doesn't appear to be doing better. Earlier this year Blockbuster considered buying the struggling company, but after they were given access to Circuit City's books their offer was withdrawn.

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38 user comments

16.11.2008 23:17
atomicxl
Inactive

Hmm... I just got paid this week too. I might finally take the plunge on a PS3/Blu-ray if they have stand-alones for $150 or PS3s for $300 or less.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 06 Nov 2008 @ 11:18

26.11.2008 23:28
varnull
Inactive

The big question has to be "Are you going to miss them?"

I just want to know if losing 154 stores will impact anybody. I don't care about them because I'm not that side of the pond, but maybe they are vital to some?

36.11.2008 23:28

Sorry, another store I won't miss. Was not impressed with their prices, nor their inventory, always thought that they had a haphazard approach to inventory. Feel bad for their employees, but not the corporate level.

46.11.2008 23:41

Originally posted by blivetNC:
Sorry, another store I won't miss. Was not impressed with their prices, nor their inventory, always thought that they had a haphazard approach to inventory. Feel bad for their employees, but not the corporate level.
My cousin is a manager at one Circuit City and says the word from the top is they wont make it to Black Friday even. Their 0.33 cent stock price is an embarrassment and a testament to bad leadership.

57.11.2008 05:04

Originally posted by blivetNC:
Sorry, another store I won't miss. Was not impressed with their prices, nor their inventory, always thought that they had a haphazard approach to inventory. Feel bad for their employees, but not the corporate level.

Yep, same here, just to think about loosing your job at these times, let alone so near of the holidays is an awful thing...

67.11.2008 06:40

Circuit City was definitely a great store to shop for consumer electronics lets say 17+ years ago(pre-internet, best buy, fryes, comp usa, wal-mart, ect ect ect)

Kinda hard for them to compete when you can apply yourself and get the same item for sometimes up to 30% cheaper and in some cases, tax and shipping free.

Years ago they botched a stereo install job and did major interior damage 2 my car so screw ummmmmm :)

77.11.2008 09:34

Hope the ones near my location closes too. They have nothing but overpriced out-of-date technology.

87.11.2008 10:11

It's not the Internet that destroyed this store, it's like a previous poster mentioned..."They have nothing but overpriced out-of-date technology." I used to like to look at the Sunday ads, and they'd have a few cool gadgets for a low price that draw you into the store and you'd maybe buy one or two other things. It seems like many stores have dumped that model. Fry's still does it...that's why I still go to Fry's often. Best Buy is gonna be next if they don't take the Circuit City lesson seriously. I used to enjoy going to Best Buy for the same reasons I stated above, and now I barely go in the store.

97.11.2008 10:50

The worst part about the Circuit City that was here in San Bernardino was that most times they had no one that knew anything about computers. They will tell you anything just to get the sale, even if it's wrong! Very poorly run company! I'm not shedding any tears, and I won't miss them!

107.11.2008 11:38

FACTS as of today:

Last Sale $ 0.2461
Change Net / % 0.015 5.74%
1y Target Est: $ 1.50
Today's High / Low $ 0.28 / $ 0.24
Share Volume 3,438,598
Previous Close $ 0.2611
52 Wk High / Low $ 8.24 / $ 0.17
Shares Outstanding 168,125,000
Market Value $ 41,375,562.50


If you do the math, within the "year high", they lost $1,343,974,437.50 BUCKS WOW!

117.11.2008 11:47

I'm another that won't miss them much. The local one was always a great spot if you wanted to talk to someone who knew nothing about the products, and shrugged a lot. I saved time and just asked the people in the parking lot any questions i had. I got more answers there.

127.11.2008 12:18
emugamer
Inactive

The one close to me is sticking around. Too bad. We could really use a Trader Joe's in my area. The one by me is across from a Best Buy and is always empty. I think most of their employees are box-boys. I almost never see a sales rep anywhere.

137.11.2008 12:28

Originally posted by 7thsinger:
I'm another that won't miss them much. The local one was always a great spot if you wanted to talk to someone who knew nothing about the products, and shrugged a lot. I saved time and just asked the people in the parking lot any questions i had. I got more answers there.

Hell, you could just ask the light post in the parking lot and get about the same answers you get by going in the store! LOL!!

147.11.2008 13:07

Originally posted by varnull:
The big question has to be "Are you going to miss them?"

I just want to know if losing 154 stores will impact anybody. I don't care about them because I'm not that side of the pond, but maybe they are vital to some?
Not vital to me at all, I stopped shopping Circuit City when I had to return a TV based on a popular defect and they wanted me to RMA it even though i purchased a 2 yr warranty. Best buy's warranty is pretty much hassle-less where I live, take it right back in the store and they give you the gift card in hand for what you paid for it (if they don't have replacement in stock)

157.11.2008 13:32

I thought Best Buy had bought out Circuit City, in which case this is no surprise, Best Buy have already bought into a major UK company this year as are intent on making their presence felt in the UK....

edit- i was wrong, BB hadn't bought out CC, it's no wonder it's confusing these days, every company seems to be owned by half a dozen other companies...

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 07 Nov 2008 @ 6:38

167.11.2008 15:35

Quote:
Best Buy is gonna be next if they don't take the Circuit City lesson seriously.
Doubtful. The difference between CC and BBY is night and day. BBY knows how to squeeze the dollar out of the consumer and does a much better job with brainwashing, er, training their employees to do thy bidding.

Their stores are laid out similarly and are easy to find product in (for the most part.) Just finding a cash register in CC can be hell.

BBY knows how to sell their "complete solution" to customers, meaning they can (and will) attach as much extra money-making crap to a sale as possible. Most of the big items, such as PC's, Video Games, and even DVDs don't make BBY that much money. It's the accessories, car audio and appliances, along with their services (ie. Geek Squad) that are their bread and butter. Even TV's have less of a profit margin than they once had.

Ever compare ads between CC and BBY? BBY ALWAYS looks like an advertisement within an advertisement. If you're looking at TVs, the screens in the ad promote Blu-Ray, NFL Sunday Ticket/DirecTV, or the latest movie release. Ditto in the store. It's no coincidence that Sony has a page or two of advertisements and special kiosks/endcaps setup with ONLY Sony product. BBY is paid by Sony and other companies to do so.

Also BBY has instant rebates versus mail-in rebates.

That's what makes a load of difference.

177.11.2008 16:21
varnull
Inactive

Thanks everyone for taking part in my little survey.. Now I suppose you want to know what I was looking for.

I was thinking about the staff losing their jobs in the current economic climate.. Looks like putting "worked as sales for CC" might not be the best thing to put on a job application for another retail post eh?.. judging by how many people think the staff would have been better if they had been cardboard cutouts or something. It's not that hard to read the manufacturers blurb on an item in store is it? I worked sales for a while.. and it helps even if you only read the display leaflets to get at least a clue about which thing does what... now to get my rice out of the tv eh?.

187.11.2008 16:22

Wow, 154 locations? How many jobs is that? This seems like big news.

197.11.2008 16:33

The idiots should've damn well known this was coming; they fired all their "highly-paid" (ooo, $10/hr., rockin'! >8p ) employees and hired ALL new entry-level store clerks. I mean, wdf? Aren't these the people who generate your damn revenue?!?! Gee, I guess treating them like crap wasn't such a smart move.

Die, you corporate morons.

207.11.2008 17:50
PetahG
Inactive

Quote:
Quote:
Best Buy is gonna be next if they don't take the Circuit City lesson seriously.
Doubtful. The difference between CC and BBY is night and day. BBY knows how to squeeze the dollar out of the consumer and does a much better job with brainwashing, er, training their employees to do thy bidding.

Their stores are laid out similarly and are easy to find product in (for the most part.) Just finding a cash register in CC can be hell.

BBY knows how to sell their "complete solution" to customers, meaning they can (and will) attach as much extra money-making crap to a sale as possible. Most of the big items, such as PC's, Video Games, and even DVDs don't make BBY that much money. It's the accessories, car audio and appliances, along with their services (ie. Geek Squad) that are their bread and butter. Even TV's have less of a profit margin than they once had.

Ever compare ads between CC and BBY? BBY ALWAYS looks like an advertisement within an advertisement. If you're looking at TVs, the screens in the ad promote Blu-Ray, NFL Sunday Ticket/DirecTV, or the latest movie release. Ditto in the store. It's no coincidence that Sony has a page or two of advertisements and special kiosks/endcaps setup with ONLY Sony product. BBY is paid by Sony and other companies to do so.

Also BBY has instant rebates versus mail-in rebates.

That's what makes a load of difference.
Lol, you either are a Best Buy employee, you worked there in the past, or you shop there waaaaay too much that you have actually realized their strategies and plans lol..Because I'm a Best Buy employee and what you said is exactly our selling motto lol

217.11.2008 18:31

creaky, best buy did not buy circuit city.

227.11.2008 18:36

Cheers ddp, was just researching it to be sure, i'll edit my reply..

237.11.2008 20:40

...this store is always "going out of business"...maybe this time it is for real?!!!

247.11.2008 20:48

I could care less they were over priced and under stocked and customer service what customer service.

257.11.2008 22:52

Quote:
they fired all their "highly-paid" (ooo, $10/hr., rockin'! >8p ) employees and hired ALL new entry-level store clerks

The final act of stupidity to say the least. Throw away all of the experience and put your future on the newly untrained, not!

Hooray, I lose the one closest to my house, but am stuck with the one in the wife's mecca of shopping. One down, One to go.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 07 Nov 2008 @ 10:55

267.11.2008 23:15

Originally posted by Bozobub:
The idiots should've damn well known this was coming; they fired all their "highly-paid" (ooo, $10/hr., rockin'! >8p ) employees and hired ALL new entry-level store clerks. I mean, wdf? Aren't these the people who generate your damn revenue?!?! Gee, I guess treating them like crap wasn't such a smart move.

Die, you corporate morons.
that's also what happens when you don't have an incentive program, if a sales rep has no commission (or a sales incentive)he/she would not care pretty much if you buy for an item or not, let alone actually doing some research and get some specs on the product to show the costumers,since they will be only be getting the same $10 hr (if that) that's a very big diff that goes to show on the costumer service area, now , on the other hand if the company doesn't see the employee is selling as much as they want due the lack of incentive, they can just fire him/her, because to the company's eyes, they will always find someone who will take a $8 and hour without knowing/caring about a incentive/commission deal.

That's just the way it goes... I will love to think that the greedy corps will hurt something and learn the lessons, but honestly, the only one hurting are the employees, and to some point , the costumers.

277.11.2008 23:42

I love when stores go out of business.

288.11.2008 00:20

Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Best Buy is gonna be next if they don't take the Circuit City lesson seriously.
Doubtful. The difference between CC and BBY is night and day. BBY knows how to squeeze the dollar out of the consumer and does a much better job with brainwashing, er, training their employees to do thy bidding.

Their stores are laid out similarly and are easy to find product in (for the most part.) Just finding a cash register in CC can be hell.

BBY knows how to sell their "complete solution" to customers, meaning they can (and will) attach as much extra money-making crap to a sale as possible. Most of the big items, such as PC's, Video Games, and even DVDs don't make BBY that much money. It's the accessories, car audio and appliances, along with their services (ie. Geek Squad) that are their bread and butter. Even TV's have less of a profit margin than they once had.

Ever compare ads between CC and BBY? BBY ALWAYS looks like an advertisement within an advertisement. If you're looking at TVs, the screens in the ad promote Blu-Ray, NFL Sunday Ticket/DirecTV, or the latest movie release. Ditto in the store. It's no coincidence that Sony has a page or two of advertisements and special kiosks/endcaps setup with ONLY Sony product. BBY is paid by Sony and other companies to do so.

Also BBY has instant rebates versus mail-in rebates.

That's what makes a load of difference.
Lol, you either are a Best Buy employee, you worked there in the past, or you shop there waaaaay too much that you have actually realized their strategies and plans lol..Because I'm a Best Buy employee and what you said is exactly our selling motto lol

No worries this time. Chapter 11 is just around the corner! It was in the Business/Financial news a few days ago. Circuit city is on a cash basis from all their suppliers. The ones they owe money to won't ship them anything, so stick a fork in them, they're done! They are absolutely finished for good this time!
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 08 Nov 2008 @ 12:21

298.11.2008 01:45

Bye ...

308.11.2008 10:52
susieqbbb
Inactive

Here is what you need to understand.

A mark down at these stores means 100+ mark up i went to a circuit city outlet store and they where more expensive then the real store.

And every time the store placed something on sale all the other stores beat it at nearly 200.00 to even 100.00 off.

Circuit city should go out of business there is no need for them.

318.11.2008 11:22

Well said. The market plainly can't sustain their "business model", for want of a better term. They should go. While I'm sure their employees aren't too damn happy, it's not like they didn't see this coming either.

329.11.2008 21:10

The one going out of business near me marked stuff down a whole 20%, wow what a discount.

Someone posted about a markup- I have been into a couple stores, recently, that were going out of business and found the worst store in the markup dept. was Mervyn's. They don't even do a good job of it. You can see the original price underneath the markup price. Double the price and then knock it down 50%, no thanks.

3310.11.2008 11:14

They just filed for Ch 11 bankruptcy

3410.11.2008 13:24

Originally posted by martin280:
I love when stores go out of business.
Do you love it when the other stores decide to raise their prices because of the reduced competition?

3510.11.2008 16:49

Quote:
Originally posted by martin280:
I love when stores go out of business.
Do you love it when the other stores decide to raise their prices because of the reduced competition?

I'm in the US and I do 99% of my buying from Newegg. Since I have bought over $20k a year from them over the last 3 years, they treat me real good! LOL!! I also find that the overall price difference weighed against how well Newegg handles any problems I have, makes it worth the small difference I pay. I don't even have to pay for shipping returns as they send me a UPS label and don't charge me any shipping when the replacement item is shipped, usually overnight! The only time I shop elsewhere is when I can't get an item from Newegg! Once in a rare while I drop into Fry's so I can refresh my blood pressure! LOL!!

3610.11.2008 19:00
emugamer
Inactive

Originally posted by theonejrs:
Quote:
Originally posted by martin280:
I love when stores go out of business.
Do you love it when the other stores decide to raise their prices because of the reduced competition?

I'm in the US and I do 99% of my buying from Newegg. Since I have bought over $20k a year from them over the last 3 years, they treat me real good! LOL!! I also find that the overall price difference weighed against how well Newegg handles any problems I have, makes it worth the small difference I pay. I don't even have to pay for shipping returns as they send me a UPS label and don't charge me any shipping when the replacement item is shipped, usually overnight! The only time I shop elsewhere is when I can't get an item from Newegg! Once in a rare while I drop into Fry's so I can refresh my blood pressure! LOL!!
Newegg ftw! No sales tax (for me at least and tons of free shipping deals.

3710.11.2008 23:04

Chapter 11 has been filed, the fat woman is singing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081111/bs_nm/us_circuitcity_15

3811.11.2008 14:47

Originally posted by emugamer:
Originally posted by theonejrs:
Quote:
Originally posted by martin280:
I love when stores go out of business.
Do you love it when the other stores decide to raise their prices because of the reduced competition?

I'm in the US and I do 99% of my buying from Newegg. Since I have bought over $20k a year from them over the last 3 years, they treat me real good! LOL!! I also find that the overall price difference weighed against how well Newegg handles any problems I have, makes it worth the small difference I pay. I don't even have to pay for shipping returns as they send me a UPS label and don't charge me any shipping when the replacement item is shipped, usually overnight! The only time I shop elsewhere is when I can't get an item from Newegg! Once in a rare while I drop into Fry's so I can refresh my blood pressure! LOL!!
Newegg ftw! No sales tax (for me at least and tons of free shipping deals.
You guys imply a good point; and that is that online retailers are the ones crushing the competition. I often go into a big box to check things out then purchase online.

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